A 72-Year-Old Was Beaten and Robbed By Five Kids in South Dallas After He Gave Them Change, Police Say

Robert Hamilton, 72, was walking down the 2900 block of Jeffries Street in South Dallas at 4 p.m. on Thursday when he was approached by a group of five boys.

'Hey old man," they called to him, according to a police report. "You got some money?"

Hamilton did have money, and he agreed to give them some. He grabbed whatever loose change he had in his pocket and handed it to three of the kids. "Here you go," he said. "Split it up between you."

But that wasn't the payoff the kids, one 13 years old, the rest identified by police only as "juveniles," had in mind. One of them punched Hamilton in the face while another reached into his left pocket and dug out a folded-up wad of cash, $1,052 in all. Then, they ran.

Hamilton ran after the kids, catching up with the 13-year-old as the teen grabbed a lead pipe and swung it at Hamilton's left arm. The septuagenarian was able to trap the pipe beneath his left arm and wrest it from the teen.

Hamilton called to a nearby DART police officer that he'd been robbed as the kid fled. The cop caught up with him and held him until DPD arrived. They placed the teen under arrest and took him to the juvenile detention center.